What's Happening
Songs of Resistance and Hope by Jane Wilburn Sapp
Encouraging voting on Instagram | Facebook
In the vodcast, Jane Sapp offers specific songs to support the current demands for racial justice and explores how songs can energize the movement. #votedeis
Join: Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice Conversations Series
(in partnership with Acts of Listening Lab, Center for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University)
CAST Commitments, in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter
Relaunch of Acting Together on the World Stage Website - Multi-media educational initiative
IMPACT: IMAGINING TOGETHER
Platform for Arts, Culture and Conflict Transformation
Designing an infrastructure for the field
2019-2020 Annual Report: Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST)
Newsletter
Read the latest issue of our newsletter, Peacebuilding and the Arts Now.
Sign up to receive updates about the Peacebuilding and the Arts program and the Acting Together project.
Highlights
Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival in Nicosia, Cyprus
2020 theme - “Displacement: people, ideas and artistic practice”
Featured News from the Field Theme:
"The Art of Getting Out the Vote in the United States"
"Creative Approaches to Climate Change"
Past News from the Field Theme:"Arts, Artists and Demands for Racial Justice"
"Navigating the Nexus of Arts and Peace" book authored by Carrie Herbert, Suyheang Kry, Raymond Hyma, Dona Park, and María Antonia Pérez
- Read the book in English
- Leer el libro en español
- Watch the video with comments from the authors (with Spanish subtitles)
‘White Savior’ by internationally acclaimed playwright Catherine Filloux Premieres at Pygmalion Productions
Read the press release for details.
The cultural mobilization of cities and local governments in the COVID-19 crisis
Exquisite Corps (42 choreographers, 1 dance) 
Special Edition: "Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice: the Contributions of Art and Culture"
The International Journal of Transitional Justice
Guest edited by Dr. Cynthia Cohen and featuring:
- "Reimagining Transitional Justice" - Cindy Cohen
- "Embodying the Pain and Cruelty of Others" - Toni Shapiro-Phim
- and more!
Past News from the Field Theme: "Creative responses to the global pandemic"
Past News from the Field Theme: "Artistic and cultural dimensions of protest movements around the globe"
Article: Let’s make a better world: policy implications of the cultural work practice of Jane Wilburn Sapp
Journal of Arts Education Policy Review
October 26, 2019
Dr. Cynthia Cohen
Video: Fate, Family and the Floundering of a Friendship
Past News from the Field Theme: "The Impact of Authoritarian Regimes on Artistic Freedom and Expression"
Songbook: Let’s Make a Better World: Stories and Songs by Jane Sapp
*Purchase Now!*
And listen to the related podcast series.
Sarah Terrazano wins Academy of American Poets Prize
Past News from the Field Theme: "Artists Respond to Climate Change"
Past News from the Field Theme: "Creative Reflections on Human Migration"
Professor Cynthia Cohen Solves the World's Problems with Creativity
The Brandeis Hoot
"Arts and Building Peace: The Basics and Envisioning the Future"
Essay by Cynthia Cohen
Peace in Progress Magazine
Interview with Lee Perlman about the
book “But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family!”
Read more News from the Field.
Acting Together Documentary
About Us
The program in Peacebuilding and the Arts is directed by Dr. Cynthia Cohen, continuing work previously undertaken within the framework of ‘Creative Approaches to Coexistence and Reconciliation.' Our program focuses on the distinctive contributions of culture and the arts to the transformation of conflict. We collaborate with several departments and programs at Brandeis University, including MusicUnitesUS, PAX (Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies), the School of Creative Arts, and the Office of the Arts.
One current major initiative is "IMPACT: Imagining Together," which is designing infrastructure for the field, a platform for arts, culture, and conflict transformation supported in large part by Porticus Community Arts Lab. The planning phase in 2017-2019 was supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Another current major initiative is "A Way Out of No Way," a multi-media project that is documenting the forty-year practice of cultural work of the extraordinary musician, educator, activist and cultural worker, Jane Wilburn Sapp.
The "Acting Together" Project is undertaken in partnership with Theatre Without Borders and ReCAST, Inc.
Peacebuilding and the Arts is part of Brandeis University's International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life. The Ethics Center also houses a program in international justice and sponsors an array of programs on the Brandeis campus.